save

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The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as a form of “save” in English is translated in Shipibo-Conibo with a phrase that means literally “make to live,” which combines the meaning of “to rescue” and “to deliver from danger,” but also the concept of “to heal” or “restore to health.”

Other translations include:

  • San Blas Kuna: “help the heart”
  • Laka: “take by the hand” in the meaning of “rescue” or “deliver”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “lift out on behalf of”
  • Anuak: “have life because of”
  • Central Mazahua: “be healed in the heart”
  • Baoulé: “save one’s head”
  • Guerrero Amuzgo: “come out well”
  • Northwestern Dinka: “be helped as to his breath” (or “life”) (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida),
  • Matumbi: “rescue (from danger)” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Noongar: barrang-ngandabat or “hold life” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • South Bolivian Quechua: “make to escape”
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl: “cause people to come out with the aid of the hand” (source for this and one above: Nida 1947, p. 222)
  • Bariai: “retrieve one back” (source: Bariai Back Translation)

See also salvation and save (Japanese honorifics).

complete verse (Psalm 72:13)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 72:13:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “He will do mercy to the weak people and the needy people
    and save the needy from death.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “He will have mercy on the needy
    and on those who have no chance to eat
    and will save them.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “He pities/has-compassion upon the lowly-ones and poor-ones, and he helps them.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “He will be merciful to those who are weak
    and he saves the life of the poor from death.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Anawahurumia wadhaifu na maskini,
    na kuwaokoa wenye shida katika kifo.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “They will pity those who are weak and needy; he saves the people’s lives.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Psalm 72:12 - 72:14

Verse 12 begins with the conjunction ki, which most translate For (Revised Standard Version, New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version, New American Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy); Traduction œcuménique de la Bible renders it as an affirmative, “Indeed” (so Anderson); Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Bible en français courant do not formally represent it. It does not seem likely that the psalmist meant that the king’s universal reign (verses 8-11) would be due to the fact that he is kindly and compassionate; it seems rather that the conjunction represents the psalmist’s conviction that he is justified in making the prayer for the king (or else, if verses 8-11 are taken as a statement, in predicting his future universal reign), because the king is kindly and compassionate.

In verses 12-13 the psalmist uses a variety of expressions to designate those who are in special need of help: needy, poor (the words used in verse 4; the same word needy is also used in verse 13a-b). “Neglected” in verse 12b translates him who has no helper; the weak translates a word rendered “the poor” in 41.1, which is another meaning. When he calls translates the same verb used in 18.6b; it means to ask for help.

Line b of verse 12 in both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation is an expansion of the goal, the needy, in line a. In some languages it will be more natural to keep the compound goal together, that is, “the king rescues the poor and the needy who call on him and who are neglected.”

(It should be noted that verse 12a in Revised Standard Version is ambiguous; generally an expression like the needy is collective and refers to many people, not to one person; so this makes it appear that when he calls refers to the king instead of the needy.)

He has pity in verse 13a is often rendered idiomatically; for example, “the king has a warm stomach…,” or “the king has a white liver…,” or “the king feels weakness….” In verse 13b the lives and in verse 14a their life translate “their nefeshes” (see 3.2). In verse 13b saves translates the verb used in 12.1 (“Help”), and in verse 14a redeems translates the verb used in 69.18 (see also “redeemer” in 19.14).

Oppression and violence must often be translated by two clauses, and thus an agent of each verb must be supplied; for example, “he rescues the poor from people who oppress them and who treat them cruelly.”

The last line of verse 14, precious is their blood in his sight, means that “their lives are precious to him” (see also Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy), that is, that they have worth, value, in his estimation, which is the opposite of the usual attitude of human rulers toward the poor and the oppressed. Or else, in line with 116.15, it means that the king takes no pleasure in the death of the poor and oppressed; it is a painful experience for him when they die (so New Jerusalem Bible “the shedding of their blood weighs heavily upon him”).

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .